Tag Archives: London nature

Adelaide Nature Reserve is situated between Adelaide Road, the main North East railway line and the auction with Primrose Hill road, NW3.

It is managed by LB Camden and the Adelaide Nature Reserve Association. The reserve is leased from Network Rail by LB Camden.

The reserve was co-founded by Ursula Granville in 1984 with the aim of developing and caring for this special site. The present site is approximately 0.9 ha in area and affords a fine view of the Primrose hill tunnel of 1837 which was considered a great feat of engineering in it’s time.
The reserve is home to some very rare species including the yellow meadow ant. In 1998 a rare plant the London Rocket was recorded. In 1998 an entomological survey discovered a chafer beetle not seen anywhere in Britain since the 1950s and last seen in Cheshire!
Work is carried out by the volunteer group and by LB Camden to maintain and improve the essentially meadow land habitat which supports a variety of grasshoppers, crickets and butterflies as well a wealth of other species. There is a pond supporting newts.

There is a delightful little garden in St. Johns Wood, North West London.

One of its boundaries is the noisy Wellington Road, near the glass-covered Park Plaza Sherlock HolmesHotel in London and the Lord’s Cricket ground. The address of the former burial is Wellington Place, Wellington Road, NW8 7PF.

The St. Johns Wood burial ground dates from 1807. It covered an area of two and a half hectares (six acres). The burial ground was used from until 1855 when the St. Marylebone Cemetery at East Finchley was opened. There are thought to be 50,000 graves here.

The Mill Lane Open Space is a diminutive natural area in West Hampstead. Its narrow entrance does not anticipate the nice surprise that this piece of London nature is. It is in Mill Lane, London Borough of Camden, NW6 1. It is owned by LB Camden.

There are two great things about the space: the pond and a corner with a large pile of logs. They both support a good number of frogs and newts.

Pond Life at the Mill Lane Open Space

Pond with flag iris flower

Detail of Flag iris flowers

We visited the site at the end of May. Some big Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) dominated the dry pond. The plant is native to Britain but cultivated worldwide. In some regions, the flag iris scaped to become an invasive aquatic plant. Its rhizomes make the pest practically impossible to eradicate.